''Euphydryas orientalis'' is a small

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

found in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

that belongs to the browns family.

Description

Difficult to distinguish from some ''

aurinia :''The gastropod genus ''Aurinia'' is nowadays usually considered a junior synonym of '' Scaphella''. ''Aurinia'' is a genus of flowering plants of the family Brassicaceae (Cruciferae), native to mountainous areas of Central and Southern Europe, ...

'' forms.Tusov treats ''orientalis'' as a subspecies of ''Arinia'' Seitz- ''orientalis'' H.-Schaff. (65d) is apparently a combination of the two previous ubspecies of ''aurinia''- ''pellucida'' Christ. [''E. aurinia pellucida'' (Christoph, 1893) from the Caucasus (recognizable by the thin scaling, in consequence of which all the colours appear paler and the wings slightly transparent. The markings, however, are as abundant as the colours are weak and inconspicuous) and ''laeta'' Christ [''E. aurinia laeta'' (Christoph, 1893)]( differs from the preceding in the denser scaling and more conspicuous colours, the upperside having a rather chequered appearance in consequence of the strongly developed and several times curved black discal bands; from the Vilui Mts. in Siberia] the upperside being as bright and variegated as in ''laeta'', while the underside is as pale, dull and uniform in colour as in ''pellucida''. Asia Minor and Armenia to Kurdistan.

Subspecies

*''E. o. orientalis'' Turkey, Transcaucasia 65d on plate *''E. o. sareptensis'' (Staudinger, 1878) South Ural 65d on plate *''E. o. emba'' (Fruhstorfer, 1917) Kazakhstan *''E.o. pellucida'' (Christoph, 1893) Christoph, H. T. 1893. Lepidoptera nova fauna Palaearcticae. ''Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift'' 6: 86–96 ''Euphydryas aurinia pellucida'' (Christoph, 1893)in some works. Caucasus

Taxonomy

''E. orientalis'' is in the subgenus ''Eurodryas'' The

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

members are: * ''

Euphydryas aurinia The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval s ...

'' (Rottemburg, 1775) * ''

Euphydryas provincialis The marsh fritillary (''Euphydryas aurinia'') is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval s ...

'' (Boisduval, 1828) * ''

Euphydryas orientalis ''Euphydryas orientalis'' is a small butterfly found in the Palearctic that belongs to the browns family. Description Difficult to distinguish from some ''aurinia'' forms.Tusov treats ''orientalis'' as a subspecies of ''Arinia'' Seitz- ''orie ...

'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1851) * ''

Euphydryas asiatica ''Euphydryas asiatica'' is a small butterfly found in the Palearctic that belongs to the browns family. Subspecies *''E. a. asiatica'' Turkestan, Tarbagatai, Saur, Dzhungarsky Alatau *''E. a. alexandrina'' (Staudinger, 1887) Tian-Shan *''E. a. ...

'' (Staudinger, 1881) * ''

Euphydryas sibirica ''Euphydryas sibirica'' is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in north-eastern Asia, where it is found in steppe or steppe-like meadows. Adults are on wing from June to July. The larvae of subspecies ''eothena'' feed on '' Sca ...

'' (Staudinger, 1871) * ''

Euphydryas laeta ''Euphydryas'' is a genus of Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized t ...

'' (Christoph, 1893) * ''

Euphydryas desfontainii ''Euphydryas desfontainii'', the Spanish fritillary, is a species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. It is found in France, Portugal, Spain, Morocco (the Rif mountains and Middle Atlas) and western Algeria in North Africa. Description The ...

'' (Godart, 1819)

Biology

Found in

Steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

meadows and in limestone ravines. Flies from June to July. The larva feeds on ''

Scabiosa isetensis ''Scabiosa'' is a genus in the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae) of flowering plants. Many of the species in this genus have common names that include the word scabious, but some plants commonly known as scabious are currently classified in r ...

Similar species

*''

'' *''

Euphydryas merope ''Euphydryas'' is a genus of Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized t ...

'' synonym of ''

'' ''merope'' (de Prunner, 1798)

References

External links

Russian Insects
Euphydryas Butterflies described in 1851 Palearctic Lepidoptera {{Nymphalidae-stub